Chris Faraone joined Samantha to talk about his new book “99 Nights with the 99%,” a compilation of Chris’ articles for The Boston Phoenix and other unpublished material he wrote as he traveled the country late last year from Occupation to Occupation.

The discussion ranged from the occupy movement to how down and dirty should liberals should get when arguing with conservatives to the Treyvon Martin shooting and ‘stand your ground’ laws in Florida and proposed bill here in Massachusetts.

Can’t we all get along? Can’t liberals persuade conservatives with facts, logic, the merit of our agreements? Can’t conservatives convince liberals of the superior morality of their position?

Well, according to Jonathan Haidt, psychologist at the University of Virginia and author of “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion,” we will never persuade each other because our believes are intuitive and irrational…

Joshua Rothman is columnist for the Boston Globe’s Sunday Ideas section who had a chance to catch up with Haidt on his book tour.

PLUS…

Second half hour:

New Hampshire State Rep Seth Cohn says he’ll introduce a bill to bar left-handed people from marrying each other.

In a tongue-in-cheek proposal to a gay marriage repeal bill, Rep. Cohn plans to offer the ban-on-lefty marriages amendment Wednesday, when the gay marriage repeal bill is debated. LOVE IT!

Should all who want higher education have the opportunity to advance themselves? (yes)

Do Republicans want an educated populace? (Apparently not)

Join Samantha this Saturday, March 10, 2012 as she discusses the Republicans’ war on education.

“But what about people like Mr. Romney? Don’t they have a stake in America’s future economic success, which is endangered by the crusade against education? Maybe not as much as you think.

“After all, over the past 30 years, there has been a stunning disconnect between huge income gains at the top and the struggles of ordinary workers. You can make the case that the self-interest of America’s elite is best served by making sure that this disconnect continues, which means keeping taxes on high incomes low at all costs, never mind the consequences in terms of poor infrastructure and an undertrained work force.

“And if underfunding public education leaves many children of the less affluent shut out from upward mobility, well, did you really believe that stuff about creating equality of opportunity?

“So whenever you hear Republicans say that they are the party of traditional values, bear in mind that they have actually made a radical break with America’s tradition of valuing education. And they have made this break because they believe that what you don’t know can’t hurt them. “Ignorance Is Strength, Paul Krugman

“Consider the fact that SAT scores (a big factor in college admissions) correlate closely with family wealth. The total average SAT score of students from families earning more than $100,000 per year is more than 100 points higher than for students in the income range of $50,000 to $60,000. Or consider that a mere 3 percent of students in the top 150 colleges, as defined by The Chronicle of Higher Education, come from families in the bottom income quartile of American society. Only a very dogmatic Social Darwinist would conclude from these facts that intelligence closely tracks how much money one’s parents make. A better explanation is that students from affluent families have many advantages — test-prep tutors, high schools with good college counseling, parents with college savvy and so on.”
Colleges and Elitism, Andrew Delblanco

“What’s more, Mr. Santorum’s family background shows the profound value of education in lifting the disadvantaged into the middle class and beyond. The campaign likes to leave the impression that he grew up in the coal fields of Pennsylvania, but young Rick actually came of age in a home where the father earned a doctorate and worked as a clinical psychologist while the mother toiled outside the house as a well-credentialed administrative nurse; it was his immigrant grandfather who worked the coal mines.”
Michael Medved: Meet the Republicans, Education Bashers

Samantha also welcomes James Burnett, writer for The Boston Globe. The two will discuss the Somerville Music Progam…a program that brings the wonders of music to low income children.

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